DUTCH ace also admits he would stay up drinking until four or five in the morning after having featured in big matches.

Ricksen has revealed secrets of his six years in Scotland (Photo: Daily Record)

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FORMER Rangers star Fernando Ricksen has delivered a damning verdict on Scottish football’s drinking culture – claiming nine out of 10 players knock back as much booze as him.

The one-time Ibrox captain is a self-confessed alcoholic. His drink-related escapades during his six seasons in Glasgow are the stuff of legend.

But Ricksen insists the only difference between him and the vast majority of professionals in Scotland is that he chose to speak about his bevvying habits.

The 12-cap Holland international hung up his boots earlier this year. He ended his career with first club Fortuna Sittard, having joined Russians Zenit St Petersburg after leaving Rangers in 2006.

Ricksen – a £3.75million Gers buy from Alkmaar – admits he has been unable to give up drinking. But he has set himself a 10-year target to become teetotal.

The right-back looked back on the battle scars he picked up during his time in the SPL – and recalled throwing former Rangers chairman John McClelland into a swimming pool.

The 37-year-old also revealed he used to show off his culinary skills – by invading the Rangers canteen to fry eggs for the catering staff.

Ricksen – now a coach with Sittard in Holland – said: “I had too much money and too much free time in Scotland. I felt like a pop star.

“It is easy from the outside to say you should not make mistakes. But if you are in a position like the one I was in, you go for it.

“Many people think that in those days, I used to wake up, drink beer, go to training and then go drinking once again. But anyone who did that would not last a week at a club like Rangers. My rhythm was different.

“After a match I’d stay up drinking until four or five in the morning and I’d spend the rest of my week quietly. Train, play, drink, train, play, drink.

“If you trained well and looked after yourself, you could last out a long time. I took good care not to take to the field when I was drunk.

“Ninety per cent of footballers do what I used to do. I can assure you that out of the 20 players under contract at the club, 16 of them would stay up drinking deep into the night – and they’d sometimes play matches with a hangover.

“That would be the case at every club. The only difference was that the others would keep it all hidden.

“I chose to be clear and transparent about my drinking. As a result, many people think that it is something I do every day – but that is nonsense.

“I would love to be able to drink every day. I have the time, the money and the opportunity to. But I would go to pieces. I have attended a clinic and have been to meetings. I know I have a problem, and I say, ‘I am an alcoholic’.

“I can’t promise never to drink again. Perhaps I can for one day. I have my ups and downs. I have drawn up a programme for myself and I try to stick to it.

“I play a lot of sport, I coach Sittard’s youth side and I’ll have a beer at the weekend. As an alcoholic, I shouldn’t really do that. But I find it too good to give up completely.

“Hopefully I won’t be drinking any more in 10 years.”

Ricksen was infamously banned for an off-the-ball kung fu kick on Aberdeen’s Darren Young. And the Dutchman admitted he loved the physical side of the game in Scotland.

He said: “It was football for men. You’d go in for the ball two-footed and then look to see whether your opponent could still stand up. I don’t have a septum in my nose any more. It’s all broken and covered in scars. My front teeth also got knocked out – I was elbowed countless times.

“The Rangers fans greatly appreciated the way I had worked my way up out of a bloody awful situation. They identified with me a lot. The fans came from the ghetto areas of Glasgow, they have been through s**t themselves and they saw me as a figurehead.”

Ricksen landed in hot water in 2003, when he flung club chairman McClelland into an Athens pool before Gers’ Champions League clash with Panathinaikos.

The Glasgow-born businessman’s luxury watch was destroyed, along with his camera and mobile phone.

Ricksen recalled: “I was unable to play through injury and I was sat by the pool with a couple of the club’s directors.

“McClelland came by seeking to make himself popular. He was just wearing swimming trunks. Some people egged me on to throw him into the water but they didn’t think I’d actually do it.

“But I got up, ran at the chairman and threw him into the pool. The water came up to his hip but the guy couldn’t swim and got into a panic. He started floundering and swallowing water, so I jumped in after him and dragged him to the side.

“He was furious. His watch must have cost £20,000 and there were just six examples of it in the entire world. My first question was: ‘How come it’s not watertight?’ He didn’t find it funny. He’d had a phone and a credit card in his trunks as well.”

Ricksen recently returned to Glasgow with Sittard officials to discuss a link-up between the club and Rangers.

“We went for a walk through Glasgow and experienced the craziest things,” he told Dutch magazine Voetbal International. “I had to pose for photos, everyone wanted an autograph and fans sang to us. Things got so lively we had to go back to our hotel.

“At Rangers, everyone came out to see me. I still recognised a lot of faces – the cook, the admin staff, the secretaries – and they are all lovely people.

“I used to get on very well with them. We’d always be laughing and joking.

“Players were not allowed into the club kitchen but I regularly used to help the chef out. I would fry eggs and serve them up to the staff, instead of them doing it for me. They loved it.”